1. Field of the Invention
Human blood finds a wide variety of applications and uses, being used not only in transfusions, but also as a source for individual proteinaceous components. For many diseases, the human host is defective in producing an essential factor, such as one of the factors involved in the clotting cascade, where whole blood is used as a source for such protein. The increasing needs for blood has encouraged the employment of both domestic and foreign sources. In the case of whole blood, usually a pint is from a single individual, so that any contamination, as bad as it may be, will be limited to a single individual. By contrast, where components are isolated and used, frequently the blood will be pooled from a large number of different donors. Thus, the presence of contamination from a single donor can compromise the use of the entire batch.
There appears to be an increasing awareness of the incidence of viral diseases associated with blood. Of recent date is the concern with the lymphadenopathy virus or human T-cell lymphotropic virus-III (LAV/HTLV-III). While there is an increasing effort to screen blood for the presence of the AIDS viral agent as well as other viruses, such as hepatitis virus, there is still the possibility for a significant number of false negatives which could result in the transfer of the infectious agent, particularly to an immunocompromised host. There is, therefore, substantial interest in finding ways to ensure that none of the blood or blood components which are to be administered to a human host have any viable infectious agent.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
European Patent Application No. 0 086 071 describes the use of ozone to inactivate enveloped viruses for use as a vaccine.